President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

The British government said that secret files documenting its role in a secret CIA program were destroyed by “water damage.” The information in question purportedly contained details about CIA flights in 2002 carrying detainees to and from the secret military installation known as Diego Garcia, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The British-controlled island may have housed a “black site” prison operated by the CIA for interrogating detainees.   read more

Federal health officials were surprised to learn that vials containing deadly smallpox virus were sitting in a vacant government lab outside Washington, DC. The virus was officially eradicated 44 years ago. At that time, “every single research lab in the world was asked to scour their facilities and submit all specimens for accounting and destruction,” said Dr. William Schaffner. It “seems curious beyond belief” that the smallpox vials were now found in an abandoned storeroom, he added.   read more

The Legislative and Executive branches of government are currently in a standoff over records pertaining to an insider trading investigation. Officials at the SEC want the House Ways and Means Committee to turn over testimony and other records that might reveal if the staff director of the committee’s healthcare subcommittee, Brian Sutter, leaked important details about federal policy changes to a Washington lobbyist before the information became public knowledge.   read more

Federal prosecutors in New York City enjoyed seven long years of successfully convicting Wall Street cheats. But their streak has come to an end. Beginning in 2007, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan managed to string together 85 straight convictions involving insider trading. The winning streak, oddly enough, began and ended with hedge fund trader Rengan Rajaratnam.   read more

Despite fierce opposition from mental health advocates, San Francisco leaders have approved a policy by which a judge can be petitioned to order mandatory treatment for the mentally ill. The policy change came as a result of the approval of a 12-year-old statute, Laura’s Law. The law was named after teenager Laura Wilcox, who was murdered in 2001 by a psychiatric patient. Nevada County, where Wilcox was murdered, was the first to adopt the program. Orange County has since signed on.   read more

Earlier this year, a West Virginia chemical company contaminated the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of people, resulting in more than $60 million in economic damages. But the federal government so far has fined the company only $11,000. Schools and businesses had to close as a result of the contamination, which left 300,000 people without water. About 20% of those affected reported having health problems afterwards.   read more

Fortune magazine reports that only 51 companies in the Fortune 1000 are led by female CEOs. Twenty-four of them run Fortune 500 businesses, which is an all-time high. No. 7 General Motors is the highest ranked Fortune 500 member with a woman running things: Mary Barra. Under her leadership, GM made $155 billion last year. Women aren’t seeing the benefit of their management prowess, however. Female CEOs made less than 80% of what male CEOs made in 2013.   read more

The current policy crisis over the flood of immigrant children into the U.S. is a classic example of good legislative intentions gone awry. During the George W. Bush administration, Congress adopted legislation designed to make things safer for unaccompanied immigrant children arriving into the U.S. The point was to ensure that the children were put into “the least restrictive setting.” But that law is now causing a political nightmare for the Obama administration.   read more

In New York City, a baseball fan is suing the Yankees, the baseball league and ESPN for embarrassing him on national television. When Andrew Rector fell asleep during a game, the network coverage took notice. As Rector was shown snoozing, announcers commented: “Is that guy to his left his buddy who’s just letting him sleep?” ... “Maybe that’s his buddy, and he likes him a lot better when he’s asleep.” Rector seeks $10 million in damages for defamation and emotional distress.   read more

The drop is even sharper when the Justice Department numbers are put up alongside those from 2004 (down 32% when there were 760 cases under Bush) and 1994 (down 27% when 711 were reported under Clinton). TRAC says public corruption referrals sent from federal agencies to Justice have averaged 1,674 during the past five years. This total is about the same as under Bush (1,663 referrals).   read more

Established in 1937 following the completion of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead today is at its lowest water level since it first began filling up during the New Deal era. It’s lost 60% of its water capacity since 1983. The mammoth reservoir has had far more water being pumped out to supply Las Vegas (from which 90% of its water originates) and other Southwest cities than water being carried in from its primary supply, the Colorado River.   read more

These days, a pint of blood can go for $180 to $300, depending on demand. These earnings get passed down to the institute’s top executives, who make six-figure salaries. Leading the team is OBI’s CEO, John Armitage, whose annual salary is $421,561.   read more

Since 1971, Ohio has experienced 43,891 spills of hazardous materials. In second place is Pennsylvania (39,939), followed by California (39,673), Texas (39,084) and Illinois (37,524) among the top five. Ohio’s third largest city, Cincinnati, has dealt with more than 25% of the state’s accidents, and managed to average one spill a day last year.   read more

Known as “rolling coal,” some diesel truck owners have modified their engines and vehicles so they can blow thick, black, acrid clouds of exhaust into the air while driving down the road. The EPA, meanwhile, has stated that the practice is clearly illegal, which it says is supported by two paragraphs on the enforcement page of the agency’s website.   read more

All kinds of personal communications—from intimate messages to family photos—have been collected and stored in secret repositories controlled by the NSA. Performed under the guise of counterterrorism operations, the collecting of personal emails, text messages and images has by far outnumbered those of would-be threats. Within the files are communications of people discussing their sex lives, financial worries, health concerns and even their broken dreams.   read more

The political gridlock that has largely paralyzed Washington is about more than Democrats and Republicans not seeing eye-to-eye. It’s also a result of the two houses of Congress being very far apart on the ideological scale. The House and Senate “are more divided than at any time since the end of World War I” as far as political viewpoints go, said Harry Enten. The widest ideological gap on Capitol Hill last came in the 1980s. Today the gap is more than double.   read more